


A Gilded Secret

by cordeliadelayne



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Gen Work, Not Canon Compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-14
Updated: 2015-08-14
Packaged: 2018-04-14 16:30:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4571604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cordeliadelayne/pseuds/cordeliadelayne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry visits Lockhart.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Gilded Secret

**Author's Note:**

> A snapshot set after HBP. Originally written for dragong and posted to Livejournal in 2006.

Long blonde locks were pulled back behind his head and then released. And then pulled back, and then released. Over and over the man sitting on the hospital bed pulled back his hair to admire his features in the gold mirror the nurse was holding, a bored expression on her face. This was the fifth time that morning her patient had stopped to admire himself in the mirror – not that this was in any way unusual for Gilderoy Lockhart but the nurse did have other patients to see – like those nice Longbottoms who never made any fuss.

“That’s enough for today, isn’t it Mr Lockhart?” the nurse finally asked, putting down the mirror. Lockhart immediately picked it up and began to stare at himself some more. “I’ll just be over here then,” the nurse responded, but Lockhart was staring at his own reflection once more and didn’t appear to notice anything else.

He stayed like that for some time, barely glancing away from himself while various nurses fed him breakfast, then lunch, and finally dinner. The mirror was beautiful, a gold back with a diamond encrusted handle, the glass itself seeming to ripple like water and make any one who looked into it appear even more attractive than they already were; though of course this hardly made any difference to Lockhart. It had been found in a bundle of items left outside St. Mungo’s for a Muggle charity shop and a passing medi-witch had decided they would do just as nicely for the increase of patients they had to attend now that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was back. Lockhart had been drawn to it immediately and no one wanted to pry it away from him after the first attempt to do so had seen the medi-witch involved flung down a particularly steep set of stairs. Lockhart was harmless enough usually, even if he had a propensity for walking off and vanishing for hours; but since he’d obtained the mirror he’d stayed in exactly the same spot, so the staff were happy.

It was two days before the medi-witch in charge of the ward noticed that Lockhart hadn’t been to sleep, but had been staring into the mirror for the whole time. She was just on her way to deal with it when she was distracted by Neville Longbottom and some bushy-haired girl yelling at the top of their voices and running down the corridor, knocking people over as they went.

“Now look here!” the medi-witch began to pant, hurrying after them, and turning her back on the door to Lockhart’s ward just as it seemed to open and close all on its own. The children’s shouts and those of the medi-witch continued as they raced down to the end of the corridor, making as much noise as possible.

Inside the ward Harry Potter slowly walked over to Lockhart and stared at the mirror in his hand. He needed to get the mirror out of Lockhart’s grasp...but how? Neville was right, it did seem glued in place. Harry glanced around – Lockhart’s bed was surrounded by pictures of Lockhart, all beaming down at the man himself, sitting on his bed, his eyes strangely lifeless. There was a pile of untouched pictures on the side table, all destined to be autographed and sent on their way. Maybe, just maybe...

Harry took a few steps back and then removed his invisibility cloak. “Hello Professor Lockhart...”

“I used to be a professor you know.”

“Yes, I know. At Hogwarts. It’s Harry Potter.”

“No, no, my name’s Lockhart. Gilderoy Lockhart.” And Lockhart stuck out his hand for Harry to shake.

“It’s nice to meet you. My name is Harry Potter.” Harry tried to remain patient as Lockhart shook his hand rather limply.

“Potter. Harry Potter. I think I taught a boy called Potter once. Lovely chap. Would you like a picture? There’s some over there.”

“Yes, actually, I would. Do you think you could sign it for me?” Harry tried to sound and look as enthusiastic as possible.

“Sign it. Oh, I don’t know...” Lockhart looked from his mirror to the stack of unsigned photos. He would have to put the mirror down if he wanted to sign them. After what seemed an age to Harry but was in fact barely a minute, Lockhart’s vanity won out and he put the mirror down on the bed to sign the photo for Harry.

Harry wasted no time. He removed one of Lockhart’s paintings from the wall and put it on to the bed, removing the mirror and slipping it under his cloak. By the time Lockhart turned around Harry was standing tall and smiling as widely as he could.

“There you go young man. Can’t think what you’d want it for, but enjoy.”

“Thank you very much Professor.” Harry took the photo and slipped it into his pocket. Lockhart looked around as if he had lost something. “Do you want to look at this picture, Professor?” Harry asked, holding up the picture of Lockhart’s beaming face as if he were holding a mirror.

“Oh, yes, there it is. Thank you.” And Lockhart began to stare at the picture. But it wasn’t quite the same as before, though he couldn’t tell why and he soon got bored and decided to go for a wander. Harry watched him for a second and when his back was turned he slipped the invisibility cloak on and headed out the room, just as the medi-witch in charge came sauntering back in, looking very red in the face.

“Those children...what Dumbledore would say if he were alive...”

Harry winced at Dumbledore’s name but carried on outside to go meet Neville and Hermione. He took out the mirror and held it to his chest. Soon this would all be over. Now that he had the final Horcrux.


End file.
